–>> Today, we get a quick glimpse at some weird but cool kit-bashes and repaints, 1st of their kind in this line. Look closely at the interesting variations and mixed use of body parts on the Turtle toys themselves on the images provided. All this courtesy of our confidant, Hero in England.
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“Even though figures of Bebop and Rocksteady are yet to have a UK release, repaints of these two have already been found in ASDA – with touched-up Turtles as sparring partners. These each retail for £14:99
Rocksteady VS Michelangelo, Raphael VS V2 Shredder (w/purple trousers sans cape), and Leonardo VS Bebop are among the line-up. For some reason, there appears to be no Donatello VS set. .. .. ” — Hero
Create your own battle with the Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack. Train your Turtles to fight their way against the evil Shredder and his new vengeful henchman.
Will the fearless leader Leonardo defeat the brute Bebop?
Will Michelangelo’s mastery of Ninjutsu defeat the mutated rhino Rocksteady?
Or will Raphael, the muscle of the team be able to take on the criminal Shredder?
–>> Here’s some more Ghosts come to haunt the sewers from Toy Fair’s past !!
This artwork and early N.M. logo was being used by Mirage and Saban early on in the development of the live-action show. I recall seeing it multiple times on the official TMNT website.
This has been rescanned at a higher rez, and broken down to hi-light a better look at the prototypes and such presented within’ the magazine spread.
There’s a bit going on here including early prototypes of Venus and Dragon Lord, logos, and a very “DARTH VADER” – like, early Shredder prototype that’s quite pointy.
Pink-bandanas on Venus and a really cool paint job on DRAGON SKULL a.k.a The Dragon Lord.
The very comic-book, “DOONEY STYLED” Elite Guard in this line was the first “Shredder Elite Ninja” ever to be sculpted into a toy.
The Elite Guards don’t look like this in the show at all as they do on the fig.
It’s not mentioned much, but the story was supposed to go in that after Venus defeated Shredder and the N.Y. Foot Clan was disbanded, the Shredder’s Elite were to join Dragon Lord’s “THE RANK” army in lieu of the absence of the FOOT. Hopefully when Oroku Saki was to return, they would have rejoined him once again betraying their new Dragon master.
Connotations between “SHREDDER” and “Darth Vader” drove me nuts growing up – i heard it many times. But it’s pretty hard not to think of the Dark Lord with this early proto and SHARP version of Saki. The final figure looks immensely cool, one of my all time favourites.
One of my favourites from the Teens’ Rouges Gallery. One has to presume that the Dragon Lord’s final facial look was not ready by the time he went to sculpt. The masked version would be the only version EVER to be manufactured and the same sculpt is used on his TURTLEFLAGE deluxe figure. He never wore the mask in the show, as you may recall. A “sculpted dragon-head” was promised for a future figure, maybe it was even sculpted at one point. But who knows. Again, the line went away after the second wave.
The cool paint wash on this highlights the sculpt a bit better on the prototype than on the manufactured figure. You can even see the upper “GREEN” portion of his face just a bit peaking above the face mask. The final figure just makes it look like he’s wearing a full, white head mask.
The Biker , MEGA MOTORIN’ “Elite Guard” looks suspiciously like he’s wearing similar looking garb to the Rank Warriors. And none of the villains on the show ACTUALLY get a souped up ride like the cool red n’ purple, stealthy lookin’ speedster. Raph’s bike looks kinda similar to how it looks in the live show.
The big fat Mutant Marauder would be rereleased in the TMNT 2003 line tho’ it was redecorated a bit and didn’t feature in the animated show.
Early “T. Thrashers” protos include a pink-bandana Venus again, and she is wearing a top which actually looks cool on her.
For whatever reason, her final DLX Thrasher toy removed the top ( *GASP* ) and e’rythang just all umm — hangs OUT free-flowin’ in the breeze at the skate park.
..and there’s your buddy wandering his way thru’ the Toy Fair’s very own sewer system.
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N.Y. Toy Fair ’15 has wound down, but the hunt is just beginning for the collectors, kids, moms n’ dads EVERYWHERE !! ::
Back at Wonder Festival 2015, Prime 1 Studio showcased all four of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Statues. Now we get a close up look at the Donatello Statue. **Prime 1 Studio has posted some official photos and some info for the upcoming release…-
Check out the full gallery on **TOY ARK and click ***Prime 1 Studio here for release info.
We have one more “GHOST” from Mutations & Toy Fair’s distant history set to publish for this time ’round. I’ll try to get to that in 24 or so. Plus i’ll try to squeeze in Rich’s Comic news. Stay Mean, Lean – and Turnip Green, my young friends !!
–>> A handful of unproduced prototypes, or at least drastically altered figures to the extent of their final manufactured form appear on this spread. A rare look at a few of them.
–>> The paint on Quarry’s prototype is pretty cool, this is similar to an effect of what was finally produced OVER a year later than when it was originally to be released. I recall a “spitting” action feature announced for this toy. That was not realized on the final figure. I’m not sure if i recall an actual prototype showing that feature. This photo doesn’t seem to show it at all. The proto’s visual is much better ascetically than the final figure.
Obviously the same sculpt, only the FOOT FIRE MYSTIC was made for whatever reason.
The more ambitious customizer could hypothetically obtain 3 more Fire Mystic toys and repaint them accordingly. These guys eventually would “manifest” in the MIRAGE comic books.
This EARLY prototype of the ‘Space Hoppin’ Raph’ toy is a more accurate to what appeared in the TMNT 2k3 T.V. show than what was actually manufactured and put into stores. These were the Teens’ stolen TRICERATON space suits in the show, you can see the suit’s “tail” in the back of the toy. The actual manufactured Space Hoppers
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No single carded 6-pack of April’s little robot “friends” was produced for this line. However multiple Mousers would come packed in one of the S.W.A.T. multi-figure/vehicle packs in the mid-aughts.
The Nick TMNT line does have a Multi-pack of Mousers.
I was alerted that the “Environmental Playsets” were part of a series of TOMB RAIDER, LAURA CROFT toys by Playmates – – so apparently they did see some kind of release.
–>> SDCC ’03 would be my first of the California Cons and Playmates had a nice medium-sized presence to help celebrate of the then, still very new 4kids TMNT T.V. show. Michael Dooney himself was on hand much of the time at Playmates’ booth to sign autographs and sketch. Toy giveaways were were done sporadically and this was my first “official” exposure to the TMNT at a convention post previous independent TURTLE MEDIA convention appearances. Most of my personal photos from this Con & particular were accidentally deleted. However this two page spread highlights the most interesting releases of the second wave of the TMNT-2k3 toy line that were on display. Of note are two deluxe boxed sets that were never sent into production. They were incredibly impressive in person. But they were not to see the manufactured time of day and have gone into the PLAYMATES archives for good. The figures however are merely “battle damaged” repaints.
–>> Two ill-fated publishing house markings linger on this mini poster version of one of the more “STAND-OUT” variant covers of DW’s short lived TMNT animated #1 book. Peter David and Lesean Thomas’s first book boasted at least a couple variants. This Lee illustrated / Sunga coloured piece also made it onto a print offered by comic shops luckily sans all the logos.
At the moment i cannot recall where else this image may have been printed aside from the variant cover. . However it has been one of the more popular wrap-arounds in the fandom for over a decade now. Hmm – I do have a comic-shop exclusive Print of this piece sans the logos i will have to locate.
Tokka cannot offer the best critique of these things, but off the cuff: Lee’s “Muscular” style; love it or hate it renders Splinter, Casey and the Teens really well.
Shredder’s ominous presence in the background is perfectly balanced on the fold-out, even a little creepy with the one striking pupil focused on the viewer behind a classic clenched fist like pose. Half the bladed gauntlet obscured showing in front of Saki’s/Ch’Rell’s masked face and Ramil’s digital, painterly “POP-OUT” colours are two of my favourite items in the piece. Interestingly Michelangelo kind of takes the lead on the cover in kind of a smirky but mighty pose. The NYC cityscape in the background looks more familiar in that old DW styling.
This may be one of coolest covers from that era. Defiantly one of the most memorable.
The Wizard and DW logos bothered the hell out of me tho’ on this particular format. But that’s how it goes with these posters books Wizard put out. The 40+ poster fold-out magazines were printed with the images back to back. If you had a favourite character / artist’s poster who you wanted to tack up on the wall and on the back of that poster was an equally fave Comic book character and artist you’d run into problems. Just short of buying a whole other “PosterMania! ” issue of the same book.
Again the books’ images were meant to be utilized and hung up to promote the years’ upcoming titles. You did have to lift the staples out of the center of the mag to remove all the posters, let alone one that had your favourite character on it buried under the other pages.. That was always was bloody murder on my finger-tips and nails just short of using a butter knife or stapler-remover
It appears in some cases, these books & the 2003 PM! book can be kind of pricey and hard to come by.
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Related notes :: The Mystic TURTLES from last weeks’ popular T.V. episode are magically and slowly showing up on pegs ( shown here are pix from a Walmart ).
The first real basic toy offerings for 2015 show us previews of figs you got to peek at last year like Dire & Dark Dream Beaver, Baxter Fly, and Mike as Tur-Flytle. But fresh sneak-peeks on characters new for season three including Napoleon Bonafrog, the first EVER Attila the Frog, and the New but NEUVO – CLASSIC styled MUCKMAN. New TMNT Collection pack-in Pamphlet caps provided by Instagram user TMNTLEATHERHEAD.
..while not entirely unique like the classic PLAYMATES TMNT cards ..
– – the UNIFIED PACKAGING takes a slight cue from the 2005 – 2006 card backs giving the Teens themselves more personalized packaging for specific Turtles. But also freshens up the secondary characters, villains and supporting cast cards for the new year.
I’ve just got back from the UK Toy Fair, and spent most of my time on the Flair stand, drooling over all the TMNT stuff…
There wasn’t nearly as much as last year (makes sense, since last year the focus was on the movie), and most of what was shown was either old, or non-figure related. Also, none of the people I spoke to were particularly knowledgeable about TMNT.
Basic Line:
Everything shown has already been released, apart from Wave 3 2015 (Due October in the UK, no doubt much earlier in the USA):
Head Droppin’ Turtles – yeah, they’re doing these in the smaller scale. Pretty crappy, the gimmick didn’t work all that well and the paint apps are reduced even further (the ankle & wrist wraps weren’t even painted). All 4 brothers are due, although Raph was missing for some reason…
Monkey Brains – I think we saw a pic of him at SDCC, the figure’s nice and big but has a very simple sculpt & paintjob. The figure I saw was a proto, I’m told the final figure will have some kind of action feature.
Dream Beaver – Fairly basic, barely articulated red beaver dude. Again, the paint apps have been cut – he’s didn’t even have the design on his stomach!
Attilla the Frog – Looked like a happy meal toy. Articulated at the shoulders only, he’s hollow to accommodate his action feature – flip a lever on his back, and his tongue sticks out.
Shredder Clones (?) – No one knew much about these, apparently they’ll come as a 2-pack. One was normal size, orange with lobster claws, the other was a smaller unarticulated neon pink dude with some kind of tendrils/tentacles coming off him. Both had metallic blue armour.
Non figure stuff:
Mutations – there’s a new line of Mutation figures where each Turtle turns into his signature weapon. Neither turtle nor weapon mode looked very good (unless you’re into half-arsed mecha turtles). I got to play around with Mikey, and he was very tricky to convert, and his weapon mode is basically 2 10″ sticks that are a bit floppy in the middle. Only Leo & Mike were on display, but all 4 will be made.
T-Machines – think TMNT Hot Wheels. Cars featuring the main cast (each car comes single-packed or in multipacks, and each has multiple colour schemes). There’s also a range of playsets, a sewer lair, streettop and Shredder attack. Admittedly, these looked quite fun.
Giant Leo Playset – this was by far the coolest thing I saw at TF. It’s a massive, 2′ tall articulated Leo figure that folds out into a massive playset, with several different areas. It’s not as tall as the Sewer Lair, but its footprint is about 4 times bigger. It’s scaled to the regular figures.
I’ll get some pictures of the catalogue up tomorrow, but there’s not a lot in there that we haven’t already seen.
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card backer v (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/16610622791_05777e5c8c.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" i (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8627/16617675455_fb69c22bbb.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card backer i (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8584/15991716843_82516c28c9.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card backer ii (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8595/16611643235_c9a7059a37.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card backer iii (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8637/16610622631_73887b4ce6.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card insert (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8572/16410286537_4150e6c6b6_m.jpg)
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: Goodie vs. Baddie Twin Pack; "MICHELANGELO vs. ROCKSTEADY" / ..card backer iii (( 2015 )) [[ Courtesy of Hero ]]](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8664/16617202932_e89f513555_n.jpg)
..well semi-related ; UNJUST PLUSH !!
..5 days to go, join these cute little, KICKSTARTER STAFF PICK fuzzy fighters !!
**COWABUNGA CORNER’s unique Instagram account’s focus is specifically on TMNT product and productions. There are some little odds and ends that get snapped at NY Toy Fair like household products, up-and-coming companies with brand new innovative toy lines, and of coarse the big names like Funko and Diamond Select. Check it out for some peeks at odds n’ ends TMNT items that you may see in the coming months !! 
Playmates has updated the main TMNT Toy site with peeks at new T-Machines, TMNT Basics, including the NEW Head-Droppin Teens, Mutations and Mutation Vehicles ..
